The Hospital - Welcome to Night Vale oneshot or whatever
by simplethings.x
Summary: This doesn't align with any real story, it's just sort of the characters... I've also changed those a bit to suit my needs. Also this was written right after cookies came out so I'm sorry it doesn't account for Janice's awesome character development and is a bit harsh on steve if you're Anderson-ing about him. (Sherlock fans will know the feel)


Cecil had his head bent over looking at his phone which he held in both hands furiously texting his sister. Cecil was beyond aggravated, he was livid. He had a hard time to put up with Steve Carlsberg at the best of times, and this was certainly not the best of times. His niece Janice had gotten hurt while on a camping trip with the Night Vale Girl Scouts and her mother could not be here as she was away on business. Cecil had received a call from the hospital saying that Janice had been rushed in with a possible broken arm but they had said nothing more. Cecil was out in waiting room after being told to leave the emergency room and wait for them to call him in. Her step-father, of course, was nowhere to be found as he had taken off for the weekend not leaving a contact number or telling anyone where he was going in case Janice had to come back early. Cecil, was of course Janice's emergency contact so there had not been any real problem taking the day off work and coming to meet her at the hospital. Cecil placed his phone on his lap and took a calming breath. His legs had been jittering and he was filled with the uneasy shakiness of anxiety and worry. He took another calming breath and tried to relax. He was bent over holding his head in his heads staring down at the floor trying to focus on his breathing when a rich melodious voice addressed him from above. "Excuse me, are you alright?" Cecil looked up to see a dark-skinned man wearing a dark blue shirt, a white knee-length lab-cost hanging open paired with dark jeans and a pair of extremely stylish high-top black army boots. The man was looking at him with a wary expression of sympathy and understanding. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit worried." Cecil replied running an absent hand through his almost completely white hair. The other man smiled an apologetic smile and sat down beside him. "You here to see someone?" he asked easily. "My niece is in there Janice Palmer. She fell into a cavern on a camping trip. I've been waiting out here for a while, they said they would come get me but I've been out here for almost half an hour and I have no idea where she is or what happened or how badly she's been hurt. They're not telling me anything and-" at that the other man put out on hand as a gesture for him to stop and the other was rested on his shoulder reassuringly. "Slow down. Take a deep breath. You're not going to help anybody by giving yourself a panic attack. Now wait here for two minutes, I can go in and ask for you." The man said standing "Are you a doctor?" Cecil asked after he had taken a deep breath. "Yes, well, no. I'm not a medical doctor, I'm just here to get some lab work. But just sit here and try to stay calm, I'll be back in no time. What was your niece's name?" "Palmer, Janice Palmer." Then man was then gone. Cecil could see through the door window that he had walked up casually to the large semicircle shaped desk with a smile. The woman who had shooed Cecil to the waiting room smiled back the man and in an instant Cecil could tell she had a crush on the dark-skinned doctor. Her body language was obvious as she toyed with her necklace talking to him. He then seemed to ask her a question and she stiffened, her back straightening and she broke eye-contact shaking her head. He seemed to press her and she snapped something back at him with a sharp head movement. He then slid around the counter and he seemed to be sweet talking her as he approached. She finally gave in with a grin and reached for a clipboard running her finger along the paper as she looked for the information. He wrote it down on a sticky-note he snatched from her desk and left without a second glance even as she seemingly called something to him as he was walking away. Cecil was sitting in the same spot when the beautiful doctor entered. He had been wearing a smug smile on his face which immediately fell away upon taking in Cecil's bewildered form hunched in on himself in the hard grey plastic chair taking in shaky breaths his hands nervously twisting and untwisting the piece of stray fabric from his sweater. "I've got it" he announced holding the paper in his hand up to show him. "I'm sorry, what was your name?" The doctor asked him. "Cecil. Is she alright? Can I see her?" "Ok Cecil, she's perfectly fine. There was a bit of a mix-up and she's not here in the emergency any more, I'm really sorry they didn't inform you. She's already been and gone, she's waiting in one of the rooms on the other side of the hospital. I can take you to her if you like; it's a bit of a maze in here." The doctor offered. "Thank you so much, I'd really like to see her, she's only 8, and she's all alone." "Of course, if you'll follow me." The man beckoned him holding the door open. Cecil quickly got up and walked out of the large empty room. He followed the man with the doctorates degree who thankfully walked at a rather quick pace as Cecil was anxious to see his niece. "How're you holding up?" the man asked as they walked glancing in Cecil's direction. "I'm fine. I'm just glad to hear she's okay. I can't wait to see her. I hate knowing that she was here all alone, she's such a smart, sweet little girl, and she's so brave." "Well them I'm sure you don't have to worry about a thing, it sounds like she's a little bruised but there are no serious injuries." "That's such a relief to hear, thank you so much. I didn't catch your name." "Carlos," he said with a smile. "Well thank you Carlos, for taking the time to help me find my niece." "No problem, actually, I've been running tests all day, it's refreshing just to get out of that stuffy lab they stuck me in. I can't wait till I can leave this hospital and get back to my own space." "So, you don't work here then?" Cecil asked more out of the habit of a journalist than out of real interest, mostly he was just nervous and hoping Janice was okay. "No, not really, my lab was condemned for a few weeks after one of the work-study students in my team knocked over my specimen shelf and made a huge toxic mess. They've been letting me work on a few projects here at the hospital while they finish cleaning up my lab." "I see, so you're scientist?" "Yup, that's me, Carlos the scientist." Cecil couldn't help but smile at the man, he was pretty cute. "Well here we are room 203, you can go right in. She's in the bed by the window." Carlos smiled "Thanks again" Cecil added before walking into the room and back to the bed by the window. He peeked around the curtain to find a small dark-haired girl with outstretched arms "Uncle Cecil!" she almost shouted in an excited high-pitched voice. "Hey princess, how are you feeling?" he asked warily as he knelt down to hug the little girl in her bed. "I'm ok. I fell into a strange cavern and I hurt myself." She explained dejectedly "I was really looking forward to the camping trip. I'm sorry you had to leave work Uncle, I don't know where Steve is." "Oh don't be sorry about a thing sweet-pea, don't worry about a thing. Don't even think about it okay?" he said hugging the child again rubbing her back soothingly but also gently and carefully as he did not know if she had hurt herself there too. "Promise?" he added when she said nothing. "Ok, promise." The little girl agreed and bumped the side of her hand against his before swinging their pinky fingers together to form their secret pinky-promise ritual. She smiled up at him at the familiar gesture and he returned the smile. "How are you really?" he asked seriously "Well, my back hurts from the fall, and my legs. I landed on my side on a baby cactus right here." She said turning sideways so he could see the large scrapes on her left forearm. They covered a large part of her arm but thankfully did not seem to be deep. Cecil winced as he looked at them. "Does it hurt anywhere right now?" "Well, my back mostly." "Ok, stay here I'll be right back ok? I'm just going to talk to your doctor. You're a tough kid Janice, my tough little princess." He kissed her forehead before leaving the room.

….

"We're going to keep her for 8 hours for observation, she was having some difficulties breathing when she first came in and we took some x-rays of her lungs and everything seems to be in good order but just in case anything does go wrong, we'd like to play it safe and have her here." The doctor had been talking much in that manner for a few minutes now. "Okay, can I stay here with her?" Cecil asked with a look of concern. "Of course, you can expect to be out of here by 12 or so. We're going to top her up on her pain medication so it'll knock her out pretty quick. Just let one of the ladies at the desk over there know if you need anything, ok?" "Ok, thank you very much doctor." "Great" he said and walked away just as the nurse was finished putting in the IV. "How was it Jan? Are you good?" "Yeah, it wasn't that bad, it feels weird though." She said poking gently at the skin around the tube taped to the back of her hand. "Yeah, you'll probably start to feel a little sleepy soon so you should try and get some rest. I'll be right here or just outside the room if you need anything ok?" "Ok. I am actually pretty tired from a while ago." She explained settling back into her bed. "Do we have to stay here much longer?" "Yeah, we'll be here till midnight, so you'll have plenty of time to take a nap." "Ok. Thanks Uncle, I love you." "I love you too princess, now try and rest, you've had a rough day." "Ok." She said around a jaw cracking yawn.

It was almost eleven o'clock when Cecil was roused from his resting state by the sound of footsteps approaching. "Hey, you're still here." a melodious voice addressed him. Cecil looked up to find Carlos, the dark-haired scientist wearing a concerned expression and carrying a tray of small plastic tubes. "Is your niece okay?" Cecil sat up straighter in his chair as he had been lounging back. "Yeah she's fine, they're just keeping her under observation." "How many hours?" he asked as he reached him. "Eight." "Well that's a good sign. If it had anything to do with a concussion they wouldn't have let her leave for twenty four." "They said it was her lungs. They think everything's fine but she was having some trouble breathing when they brought her in." "Probably just got the wind knocked out of her." Cecil nodded. "Your hair is perfect." He said out loud and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. Carlos cracked a smile showing a set of perfectly white teeth. "I did not mean to say that out loud. That was a little creepy; I'm kind of sleep deprived. Sorry" His smile widened at Cecil's reddening face. "Don't worry about it and thanks." Carlos tried to think of something else to say so he could stay and talk to him but Cecil's compliment had caught him off guard. "Do you usually work this late?" Cecil asked confusedly, Carlos realized the man really did look tired. "Not usually, but I've recently started a project that seems to be taking longer than I expected. I'm mostly just waiting around. Actually, I have to get these samples back into the fridge before they warm up too much." He checked his watch and saw that it read just past eleven. "Of course, sorry for keeping you from your work." Cecil spoke quickly. Carlos noted that he apologized a lot. "I had one of the nurses put on a pot of coffee, if you want I could bring you some… You've got another hour and a half or so until they finish checking her out." "Sure, I mean if it's not too much trouble.." "No, it's no trouble at all. I'll go drop off this stuff and I'll be back in no time." When he came back he was carrying two identical paper cups. He handed one to Cecil who took it graciously and thanked him. "No problem." He said as he took a seat beside him in the matching plastic grey chair. "I hope you don't mind the company." He spoke it like a question. "Not at all, I could use someone to keep me from falling asleep." Cecil smiled easily. "Good, because I swear if I have to go back and sit in that lab for another two hours I'll go completely insane." Cecil laughed at Carlos' half crazed expression. "What are you working on?" "Just some tests, I've been studying the trees, I don't think their normal… What do you do?" "Me?" Cecil would have liked to listen to the man talk about the trees more, his mouth was interesting to watch as he spoke… "I'm a journalist, and a radio-show host." He answered simply. "That sounds fun, what does being a radio-show host entail?" he asked seeming genuinely interested. "Well, basic stuff, I deliver news to the people of night vale, I talk to them about current events. Sometimes I have guests on the show and I do interviews. It probably sounds boring but I enjoy my work." "It doesn't sound boring at all." And with that they started conversing. They talked about their work, their interests, and their hobbies. They talked about books and movies and music. They conversed easily without pause for the greater part of an hour until a new doctor came towards them and Carlos stopped mid-sentence.


End file.
